Eagles TC Day 2: ’12 Personnel’ and Maddox Stays Outside the Numbers

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) — The first full-scale practice of Eagles training camp was Friday at the NovaCare Complex and the positive narrative surrounding Brandon Brooks continued.

The Pro Bowl right guard, who suffered an Achilles tear in the divisional-round playoff loss to New Orleans in January, was able to work with the first team during the group-install period before Halapoulivaati Vaitai took over in team drills which are still at least a couple weeks away for Brooks, according to the veteran himself.

“Doing individual and doing team are two different things,” Brooks explained. “Once I’m able to do team then I can really go from there. [The plan] is to do individual for a couple weeks, see how it feels and then get fully integrated back into team stuff.”

With Brooks stepping in with the first team Vaitai took reps as the second-team RG in group install, kicking Matt Pryor over to left guard and rookie Sua Opeta down to the third team.

Competitive 7-on-7 drills and team work were the highlights of Friday's session and Carson Wentz seemed comfortable with his new array of playmakers. Only a few footballs hit the turf for Wentz, one an overthrow of a well-defended DeSean Jackson and another where Sidney Jones was draped all over Marken Michel.

There was no real signature moment although Wentz did find Jackson for a significant gain down the middle of the field while Mack Hollins also in the mix, hauling in at least two passes from Wentz.

Doug Pederson did start out in '12 personnel' for the second consecutive day with both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert on the field together with receivers being Alshon Jeffery and Jackson.

Nate Sudfeld did yeoman work with the second team with his only misses coming when throwing to tight end Josh Perkins. Perkins, however, also beat safety Trae Elston on a nice drag route.

Cody Kessler didn't get much work in team drills but did connect with the 6-foot-6 Carlton Agudosi on perhaps the play of the day, a big gain down the left sideline when Agudosi rose up over corner Jeremian McKinnon.

On defense Jim Schwartz continued to take a long look at Avonte Maddox outside the numbers, keeping the 5-foot-9 second-year player at left cornerback while Jones handled the slot work in the nickel defense. Reserve slot CB Cre'Von LeBlanc missed the session with an injury so Josh Hawkins, who is typically on the outside got some work in the slot.

Schwartz also mixed and matched his nickel linebackers starting with Nate Gerry and Kamu Grugier-Hill and then working in different groups. Veteran Zach Brown got reps with both L.J. Fort and Paul Worrilow while T.J. Edwards got to mix and match with both Alex Singleton and Joey Alfieri.

EAGLES ADD A CB:

With Cre'Von LeBlanc joining Jalen Mills on the sideline, the Eagles added a body at CB in the afternoon claiming undrafted rookie Alex Brown off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers.

Brown, 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, originally signed with the Niners out of South Carolina State where he played in 31 games, amassing 90 tackles, 26 passes defended and seven interceptions.

Without LeBlanc, Josh Hawkins and even Malcolm Jenkins got some work in the slot behind Sidney Jones, who took the first-team reps.

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Referee Shawn Smith briefed the media on the NFL's rule changes and points of emphasis for the  2019 season.

THE PLAYERS SPEAK:

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen